POLICY AND PROCEDURE - REIMBURSEMENT OF TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE EXPENSES (ALL STAFF) AND COUNSELLING HOURS (SESSIONAL STAFF)

Transcription

1 POLICY AND PROCEDURE - REIMBURSEMENT OF TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE EXPENSES (ALL STAFF) AND COUNSELLING HOURS (SESSIONAL STAFF) Document Control Panel File Reference Number File Name Owner Approver HR-PP-07 Reimbursement of Travel and Subsistence Expenses (all staff) and Counselling Hours Deputy CEO CEO History Date Author s Name Changes Approved by Name 11/07/11 SG Re-formatted 19/07/11 CC Reviewed 31/01/13 LM Revised 03/2013 PS 27/05/2013 Board of Trustees 12/03/14 LM Reviewed no changes made 25/03/14 Board of Trustees Next Review Date 03/2015 Printed copies of this document are not version controlled.

2 INDEX 1 Reimbursement of Travel and Subsistence Expenses Claims for Hours Worked - Sessional Staff Advice Line Claims Sessional Staff Counselling Claims Sessional Staff Outreach Claims Sessional and Salaried Staff Case Administration:Outreach Base - Sessional and Salaried Staff Telephone counselling- Sessional and Salaried Staff Claims for Supervision and Training - Sessional Staff Training - Sessional and Salaried Staff Subsistence Claims - Sessional and Salaried Staff 5 4 Travel Claims.6 5 Mileage.6 6 Congestion Charging (Central London) 7 7 Travel Time.7 Appendix Travel Claim Guidelines.8 Reimbursement of Travel and Subsistence Expenses 1.1 PAC seeks to reimburse salaried and sessional staff for all reasonable, additional and agreed expenses incurred whilst on PAC business. 1.2 All claims for expenses will be assessed in relation to cost effectiveness, i.e., whether the travel and subsistence costs incurred for each journey represents the most economic and effective means of achieving PAC business. In weighing up the most Page 2 of 9

3 appropriate method of travel to be used, it is expected that all staff will use public transport options unless the total cost (including taxi travel, if needed) is more expensive than travel by car. 1.3 Travel and subsistence costs incurred whilst carrying out work under a service or employment contract with PAC will be reimbursed provided they are: Presented on invoice forms (sessional workers) or PAC expense forms (employees) in full detail including dates of events and exact details of mileage etc. Supported by valid receipts Submitted on a monthly basis on the relevant form by the 15th of each month in order to be paid within the next pay run. Claims submitted after this date cannot be guaranteed for payment within the next pay run. 1.4 All claims must be presented as soon as practicably possible, but no later than 60 days from the date the expense is incurred. Reimbursement of subsistence is intended to supplement workers expenses whilst on business, recognising that expenses incurred whilst travelling are typically higher than those incurred during the normal routine. As PAC is a registered charity, workers are asked to seek the most cost-effective means of carrying out their duties. Detailed guidelines for travel and subsistence claims are given below. 2 Claims for hours worked Sessional Staff All claims for hours worked must be submitted on invoice forms with detailed time sheets attached. They must be submitted on a monthly basis by the 15th of each month in order to be paid within the next pay run. Invoices submitted after this date cannot be guaranteed for payment within the next pay run. 2.1 Advice Line Claims - Sessional Staff Sessional Staff undertaking duties in relation to the Advice Line will be reimbursed in the following manner and the claim must be clearly detailed on the Invoice/time sheet: Morning Advice Line Evening Advice Line is Page 3 of 9

4 Maximum hours to be claimed for one morning session and any associated admin including Advice Line s etc. is 5 hours. The minimum number of hours is 3 hours. The maximum hours that can be claimed for an evening session and any associated admin including s is 2.5 hours. The minimum number of hours is 2 hours. 2.2 Counselling Claims - Sessional Staff All counselling appointments are for a maximum of one hour direct contact (face to face/telephone/skype). Therefore the maximum claim by sessional workers for a service user session (to include related admin/closure summaries/set up appointment etc) is 1.5 hours. 2.3 Outreach Claims - Sessional and Salaried staff The minimum number of hours that can be claimed for an Outreach Base is 8 hours; this covers attendance at the base/ administration of the case and travel of up to an hour one way. The maximum is 10 hours and will be based on the need to travel for more than an hour one way in order to reach the Outreach base. A travel journey of 1.5 hours one way will be paid at 9 hours and more than 1.5 hours at a maximum of 10 hours. Authorisation from a line manager is required to claim more than the 8 hours and up to the maximum of 10 hours for a base. The above claims for Outreach for a maximum of 10 hours can only be claimed if travel to and from the venue takes place on the same day. If an overnight stay is involved that incurs subsistence charges for PAC then the maximum hours claimed for the outreach base will be adjusted accordingly and will be for no more than 8 hours a day. 2.4 Case Administration: Outreach Base - Sessional and Salaried staff It is expected that administration on cases i.e. write-ups of the session are included in the 8 hours as well as occasional telephone calls related to the case. Where the type of work requires additional admin hours e.g. access to records, it is expected that it is agreed with a line manager in the first instance as to what can be claimed. The principle is that the time is identified from the Outreach base in the first instance unless demand for space on the base mitigates against this. Page 4 of 9

5 2.5 Telephone counselling- Sessional and Salaried staff Where telephone counselling has been requested between outreach surgery sessions this needs to be agreed with a line manager and the funding identified. Some L/A contracts do include this provision, but this needs to be identified in advance of offering the service. 2.6 Claims for Supervision and Training - Sessional staff Sessional staff can only claim for the hours they attend PAC for formal supervision arrangements i.e. clinical group supervision and individual supervision with line management. Sessional staff cannot claim for mileage or travel time. 2.7 Training- Sessional and Salaried staff See the Staff Training and Development Policy for allowances for training. Sessional staff cannot claim for attending PAC training or meetings other than when specifically requested to attend by PAC as part of the development of PAC's strategic plan. 3 Subsistence Claims - Sessional and Salaried staff 3.1 Subsistence claims should only be for expenses incurred as a result of business travel. For example, when a worker is prevented by their official duties (performed no less than five miles away from PAC) from taking a meal at their home or normal work base, they may incur additional expenditure. In these instances, actual subsistence costs incurred whilst working away from the office will be reimbursed up to a maximum of 5.00 per day. Claims for alcoholic beverages will not be accepted. 3.2 For overnight trips, it is expected that the Premier Inn (corporate account) will be accessed for actual accommodation, which will include breakfast costs. Reasons for not accessing a Premier Inn or equivalent will need to be agreed with a line manager. Actual subsistence costs are reimbursable up to a maximum of 10 per day. 3.3 A hotel can only be booked if it is less expensive to PAC than returning home, and if the working hours extend beyond your usual working day or outreach hours including normal travel time; e.g. if delivering training in an authority. 4 Travel Claims 4. 1 Salaried staff: the principle that staff should claim only those travel expenses which are additional to their normal commuting expense should be adhered to whenever Page 5 of 9

6 practicable. In the case of car mileage claims (see below), commuting mileage is to be deducted from the total mileage claimed. In other circumstances, however, the deduction of normal commuting costs may be more complex. A season ticket holder is not expected to calculate the average daily cost of commuting as in this situation any travel costs are likely to be additional. There are also circumstances in which other considerations suggest a common sense approach to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. 4.2 Sessional and salaried staff should seek to take the most cost and time efficient means of transport to reach their off-site destination. In most cases, workers are expected to take public transport, i.e. 2nd class rail, underground or bus. Travel by taxi should only take place if this is the most effective mode of transport both in terms of expense and time utilisation. 5 Mileage 5.1 Salaried staff: in cases where it is not efficient or cost effective to take public transport, PAC will reimburse the cost of the mileage travelled in the worker's own car, less the distance of the worker's normal commute from their home to PAC. An example of how this is applied is provided below: A worker who would drive 10 miles to PAC should deduct this mileage from any mileage claims. This means that if it is 40 miles from the worker s home to the off-site location, the worker should only claim 30 miles travel. Mileage will be reimbursed at a rate of 0.40p per mile. 5.2 Sessional staff: for sessional workers who do not have a normal commute full mileage for the return trip will be reimbursed at a rate of 0.40p per mile, providing the journey is to undertake service delivery work for PAC at an Outreach base. Sessional workers who come to PAC s offices (e.g. for meetings or supervision) will not receive reimbursement for mileage. 5.3 Claims submitted for mileage will be checked by PAC against AA road planner or similar for accuracy. 6 Congestion Charging (Central London) 6.1 Salaried and Sessional staff who have to take a vehicle into the charging zone (which should only be in exceptional cases) for PAC business, will be reimbursed for the charge incurred. In the absence of a ticket to accompany the claim, a note should be Page 6 of 9

7 made on the form that the expense was essential in relation to a particular journey. Given this additional charge on car journeys to central London, public transport should always be used or the congestion charge zone should be avoided on trips to destinations other than central London. 7 Travel Time 7.1 For sessional workers travel time incurred whilst on Outreach business will be paid at their full hourly rate, but only once it is in excess of one hour in each direction. 7.2 For PAC employees, please refer to the TOIL policy with respect to travel time outside normal work hours. Travel Claim Guidelines To assist in interpreting the above policy, examples of how it would be applied in practice are provided in the Appendix below. Page 7 of 9

8 Appendix to Travel and Subsistence Policy Travel Claim Guidelines These guidelines cannot be expected to apply to all circumstances, but should help underline the principles. There is, however, one exception (see * below) where common sense dictates that identifying normal travel costs would be a bureaucratic headache and will therefore be ignored: Employee A normally drives 20 miles to work base (40 mile round trip). On Monday she travels to Manchester, clocking up a round trip of 150 miles. She is entitled to claim for the 150 miles driven less the 40 miles she would normally expect to incur, i.e., 110 miles. *The same employee travels to Birmingham by train on Tuesday at a cost of 35. From her expense claim she should, in theory, deduct the cost of her normal journey. This approach feels unwieldy as it is hard to identify the normal costs incurred therefore the entire journey s cost that has been paid out can be claimed. This also has the merit of encouraging staff, where possible, to use public transport. The car journey to the station is covered within her normal commuting costs. Employee B normally travels to work by bus, incurring fares of 2.40 per day. On Wednesday, he travels to Birmingham at a total cost of 35. From this fare, he should deduct the normal journey cost of 2.40 and claim Employee C has purchased an annual season ticket. If the journey taken whilst working for PAC does not involve an additional disbursement of funds, no claim should be made on the principle that the journey does not cost Employee C any more money. If Employee C, however, has a value-added Oyster card, where the cost of the journey is deducted for each journey, she would be allowed to make a claim for the amount deducted. As there is no receipt, a note of the standard cost of the journey should be made on the claim form. Employee D normally drives a round trip of 50 miles to PAC. She travels to Scotland for a two-day conference travelling 220 miles. The requirement is only to deduct the single journey from the claim rather than the normal commute for each day away. Employee E normally drives a round trip of 50 miles. On Thursday, he drives to visit two clients and clocks up only 20 miles. No mileage can be claimed nor is he expected to pay anything back to PAC. Page 8 of 9

9 Employee F, who normally drives a round trip of 40 miles to the office, is faced with the option of driving 190 miles round trip to attend a conference or to use the train at a total cost of 36. The cost of the car journey at 40 p per mile would be ((190miles- 40miles x 0.40) therefore Employee F would be expected to take the train. If, however, a colleague is also going on the trip, it would clearly be preferable for the two to share a car at a total cost of rather than incur two train fares totalling 72. Employee G normally commutes 10 miles in each direction to PAC and is required to provide counselling services at a local authority outreach surgery. Employee G travels 50 miles each direction to/from the outreach surgery venue. She should deduct the normal commute mileage and only claim for 80 miles or (50 miles 10 miles) x 0.40 pence/mile x 2 (return). Freelance Worker H doesn t have a normal commute to PAC but is contracted to provide counselling services at a local authority outreach surgery. Worker H travels 50 miles round trip to/from the outreach surgery venue. He may claim mileage for 50 miles or (50 miles x 0.40 pence/mile). Freelance Worker H in the above example travels to the local authority outreach surgery by train. He is encouraged to find the most cost effective fare (e.g. off-peak, cheap day return) for making the journey. His travel ticket would be reimbursed in full provided a valid receipt/ticket is submitted with the claim. Page 9 of 9